Post by bigfan on Oct 11, 2006 20:29:51 GMT -5
Barboza is back
Sophomore, recovered from last season’s ACL tear, is working harder and playing better than ever.
October 11, 2006
By Rebecca Harlow
When the final whistle blew in the Stanford women’s volleyball team’s sweep of California on Friday, it was a relief to see Cynthia Barboza celebrating the victory with her teammates. After shaking off the memories of her last outing against the Bears, the sophomore outside hitter contributed 13 kills and three blocks to the Cardinal’s winning effort.
It was in Berkeley nearly a year ago that Barboza landed on her extended left leg and crumpled to the floor after a kill to start the second game. In that moment, her promising freshman campaign came to a premature close, with a torn ACL keeping her off the court for several months.
“I knew I had done something pretty bad to it,” Barboza said. “But I had no idea of the extent. I knew I was going to be out for the rest of the match, but it wasn’t until [team doctor] Dr. Lambert called me with the diagnosis that I knew it was the ACL.”
When she was injured, Long Beach, Calif. native Barboza, who has played with the US National Team, was leading the Pac-10 in kills and was one of the Cardinal’s top performers in every category. As strong as her stat sheet was then, Barboza has improved in every aspect of her game this season, pushing her averages in kills, hitting percentage, assists, aces, digs and blocks even higher in 2006.
Barboza currently ranks second in the Pac-10 in kills per game (4.59) and aces (0.46) per game, and is best in the conference in points (5.47) — the total kills, aces and blocks per game. She leads the Cardinal in kills with 211 and aces with 21 this season.
“One way that she helps our team is that she has been a very consistent and high-level performer,” Dunning said. “When you have someone who does that, it helps everybody else on the team because you can count on that person. She also brings a high level of intensity and is very competitive. The team can count on that too.”
Barboza is thriving this year, but it was not an easy road back. She was on the sideline for the Cardinal’s final 11 matches, including a season-ending loss to Santa Clara in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“It was definitely hard for me,” she said. “It’s something that you never think is going to happen to you and it was not something I was prepared for. It was really hard to sit and watch the rest of the season on the sideline.”
Barboza did not get discouraged, however, and she threw herself into rehabbing her knee with the same intensity that drives her on the court.
“I think she realized that her whole life she thought that she was working hard,” Dunning said. “But when she was faced with the rehab she had to do, she realized there is a whole other level of hard work. [Now that she is healthy,] she could just go out and play, but she has worked hard every day. When we run sprints in practice, she runs as hard, or harder, than everybody.”
The hard work has paid off, both physically and mentally, and the sophomore is playing at an even higher level that before the injury.
“I think I came back physically stronger than I was before because of all the rehab,” Barboza said. “And now I am also very grateful for every opportunity I have to get on the court. It’s something I don’t take for granted as much as I used to.”
With her renewed dedication to the sport, Barboza is one of the leaders on a deep and talented Cardinal squad. Senior outside hitter Kristin Richards was named Pac-10 Player of the Week after hitting error-free against Cal, sophomore middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo, the 2005 conference Freshman of the Year, is one of the most consistent hitters and most smothering blockers in the country and junior setter Bryn Kehoe, a Second-Team All-American last year, has led the team to a .297 cumulative hitting percentage.
“I think that the difference from last year is that we have matured as a group, since we only lost two seniors last year and brought in two good freshmen,” she said. “What it is going to come down to this year, with so much talent around the country, is which team plays best together. So we just want to keep building our chemistry and see if we can make something special happen.”
The Cardinal will be looking for that something special when they hit the road this weekend to face No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 USC. Neither the Bruins nor the Trojans have dropped a match this season, while the Cardinal has only two losses.
Sophomore, recovered from last season’s ACL tear, is working harder and playing better than ever.
October 11, 2006
By Rebecca Harlow
When the final whistle blew in the Stanford women’s volleyball team’s sweep of California on Friday, it was a relief to see Cynthia Barboza celebrating the victory with her teammates. After shaking off the memories of her last outing against the Bears, the sophomore outside hitter contributed 13 kills and three blocks to the Cardinal’s winning effort.
It was in Berkeley nearly a year ago that Barboza landed on her extended left leg and crumpled to the floor after a kill to start the second game. In that moment, her promising freshman campaign came to a premature close, with a torn ACL keeping her off the court for several months.
“I knew I had done something pretty bad to it,” Barboza said. “But I had no idea of the extent. I knew I was going to be out for the rest of the match, but it wasn’t until [team doctor] Dr. Lambert called me with the diagnosis that I knew it was the ACL.”
When she was injured, Long Beach, Calif. native Barboza, who has played with the US National Team, was leading the Pac-10 in kills and was one of the Cardinal’s top performers in every category. As strong as her stat sheet was then, Barboza has improved in every aspect of her game this season, pushing her averages in kills, hitting percentage, assists, aces, digs and blocks even higher in 2006.
Barboza currently ranks second in the Pac-10 in kills per game (4.59) and aces (0.46) per game, and is best in the conference in points (5.47) — the total kills, aces and blocks per game. She leads the Cardinal in kills with 211 and aces with 21 this season.
“One way that she helps our team is that she has been a very consistent and high-level performer,” Dunning said. “When you have someone who does that, it helps everybody else on the team because you can count on that person. She also brings a high level of intensity and is very competitive. The team can count on that too.”
Barboza is thriving this year, but it was not an easy road back. She was on the sideline for the Cardinal’s final 11 matches, including a season-ending loss to Santa Clara in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“It was definitely hard for me,” she said. “It’s something that you never think is going to happen to you and it was not something I was prepared for. It was really hard to sit and watch the rest of the season on the sideline.”
Barboza did not get discouraged, however, and she threw herself into rehabbing her knee with the same intensity that drives her on the court.
“I think she realized that her whole life she thought that she was working hard,” Dunning said. “But when she was faced with the rehab she had to do, she realized there is a whole other level of hard work. [Now that she is healthy,] she could just go out and play, but she has worked hard every day. When we run sprints in practice, she runs as hard, or harder, than everybody.”
The hard work has paid off, both physically and mentally, and the sophomore is playing at an even higher level that before the injury.
“I think I came back physically stronger than I was before because of all the rehab,” Barboza said. “And now I am also very grateful for every opportunity I have to get on the court. It’s something I don’t take for granted as much as I used to.”
With her renewed dedication to the sport, Barboza is one of the leaders on a deep and talented Cardinal squad. Senior outside hitter Kristin Richards was named Pac-10 Player of the Week after hitting error-free against Cal, sophomore middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo, the 2005 conference Freshman of the Year, is one of the most consistent hitters and most smothering blockers in the country and junior setter Bryn Kehoe, a Second-Team All-American last year, has led the team to a .297 cumulative hitting percentage.
“I think that the difference from last year is that we have matured as a group, since we only lost two seniors last year and brought in two good freshmen,” she said. “What it is going to come down to this year, with so much talent around the country, is which team plays best together. So we just want to keep building our chemistry and see if we can make something special happen.”
The Cardinal will be looking for that something special when they hit the road this weekend to face No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 USC. Neither the Bruins nor the Trojans have dropped a match this season, while the Cardinal has only two losses.
